WHAT: Launch of the new Regional Plan of Action for Implementing the PAHO Gender Equality Policy, aimed at increasing gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean by tailoring health polices and programs to the different health needs and risks of men and women.

WHO: The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), with the participation of leading international experts on gender equality and women’s contributions to development.

Speakers:

Mirta Roses Periago, Director of the Pan American Health Organization

Gita Sen, Professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India, Adjunct Lecturer at the Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University, and a founding member of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN).

Carmen Barroso, head of the Western Hemisphere Region of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Carmen Moreno, Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission of Women.

Gabriela Vega, Senior Specialist in the Gender and Diversity Unit of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Nirvana González, General Coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network.

Efforts to improve health must recognize that men and women have different health profiles and face different health risks. For example, one in three women in the Americas suffers violence at the hands of a domestic partner, but among men, injuries and violent deaths are mostly related to traffic accidents, homicide, occupational accidents, suicide, and substance abuse. Gender inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean are also reflected in relatively high maternal mortality rates, unmet needs for family planning, high cervical cancer rates, and an increase in HIV infections among young women in many Caribbean countries.

The new PAHO Regional Plan of Action for Implementing the Gender Equality Policy will support research on these differences and interventions that take them into account so as to promote gender equity and greater efficiency in public health efforts in the Americas region.

For more information please contact: Patricia García, Specialist, Gender, Ethnicity and Health, PAHO/WHO, email:
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, Tel +202-974-3463. Or Sonia Mey-Schmidt, Public Information,PAHO/WHO, email:
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, Tel +202 974 3036, Mobile +202 439 969.

PAHO, founded in 1902, works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and quality of life of their peoples. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).